Combination aeroplane



Nov. '9, 1926. 1,606,117.

, J.: A. *CAPLES ,COMBINATION AEROPLANE Filed June 16, 1926 2 Sheejs-Sheet' 1 WITNESS: a ATTOIRNEY Nov. 9,1926. 1,606,117 J. A. CUAPLEVS COMBINATION AEROPLANE Filed June 16, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 wrmsss: I v 5 ATTORNEY JOSEPH A. CABLES, OF EL PASO, TEXAS.

COMBINATION AEROPLANE.

Application filed June 16, 1926. Serial No. 116,471.

The object of this invention is the provision of a vehicle of such shape, design and construction that the same may be propelled, guided and controlled with e ual efficiency in the air, on the land, and in t e water.

'To the attainment of the above broadly stated object and many others which will present themselves as the nature of the invention is better understood, the improve ment resides in the novel featuresof construction, combination and operative association of parts, a satisfactory embodiment of which is disclosed by the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a vehicle in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a similar view but showing the wings associated with the sustaining planes in spread condition.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the improvement.

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a detail plan view to illustrate the drum and the flexible elements and the wings arrangedthereon.

The body 1 of the improvement is of stream-like formation and is preferably constructed of metal to provide an inner watertight compartment. The body may be corrugated and the same is provided with watertight doors 2 and observation windows 3..

The body 1 is supported upon fore wheels 4 and a rear'or guide wheel 4. The guide wheel 4: has its mountpivotally supported, as at 5, so that the said guide wheel may assume varyingdesired angles.

On the sides, adjacent to the top of the body 1, there are outstanding sustaining planes 6, and pivotally secured, as'at 7. at the forward end of each plane 6 and underlying the said plane there is a wing 8. A

headed pivot 9 attached to each Wing 7 passes through an arcuate slot 10 in the sustaining planes 6.

Pivotally secured to the rear straight ends of each of the sustaining planes 6 there is a tilting rudder 11, there being suitable means for holding the rudders at desired inclina tions or inparallelism with respect to the planes 6. i

In the car or body 1 there is a suitablemotor, (not shown) which operates the ro-. peller 12 at the front of the said body, t ere being clutch means (,also' not shown), for

operating a shaft 13 that extends through a packmg box in the rear of the body, and to peller 14}. The propeller 12 is operated when the device is to be propelled on land or in the air while the propeller 14 is operated when the device is propelled in water.

On the conical rear of the body, at the sides thereof, there are horizontal surfaces or fins 15, and mounted in a suitable up right bearing bracket between the fins 15 there is the shaft of the vertical guide rud-' der 16. The sides of the guide rudder have secured thereon truss braces 17 toeach of which there is fixed a flexible element 18 which passesthrough a packing boxin the rear of the body, and these elements are manipulated to arrange the guide rudder at desired angles. 1

J ournaled in suitable bearings which preferably depend from the top of the car or body 1, there is the shaftof a drum 19.

f Around this drum there is coiled flexible elements 20 and 21, respectively. One strand,

22, of each of the elements 20 and 21 is trained around a pulley 23 supported from which shaft there is attached a second prothe under face of each sustaining plane 6 and y from thence is fixed, as at 24, to the said sustaining plane. cated for distinction by the numeral 24,,of each of the cables 20 and 21, is attached to a depending element or bracket 25 on the under face of each wing 8. It will thus be ap parentjthat by turning the drum in one 'di- The outer strand, indicontacting engagement of the element 9'with the end walls of the arcuate slots or openings 10 in the sustaining planes 6. V

By arranging the wings 8 and the sustaining planes at or adjacent to the top of the car or body 1 a greater buoyancy is afforded the craft when in flight. The tilting rudders 11 regulate the vertical movement ofv the device. The fins 15 sustain the craft when in flight. The wheels 4 and 4 serve as both landing and ground wheels.

t'ravelin over land and when partly submerged m a, body'ofwater the propeller 14 1s The propeller 12 is operated when the craft is operated. In this instance the rudder 17 also controls the course of the craft whichwis true with respect to the craft when the same is traveling on land.

' The improvement, with slight alterations, may be also employed as a submergible craft. In this instance the sustaining planes would be hingedly secured to the sides of the body, and means would be' provided for folding both the planes and the Wings thereon against the sides of the body. K

The simplicity of the improvement and the advantages thereof will, it is thought, be perfectly apparent to those skilled in the .art to which such invention relates, when the foregoing has been carefully read in connection with the accompanying drawings, but it is to be understood that I do not wish tobe restricted to the precise details of structure herein shown and described and hold myself entitled to make such changes therefrom as fairly fallwithin the scope of what I claim. I

Having described the invention, I claim A. combined air, land, and water craft,

comprising an air tight body, ground wheels supporting the forward end of the body, a pivotally supported guide wheel supporting therear of the body, a propeller at the front of the body, and engine'operated means in the bodyfor operating the propeller, a seco'nd propeller beneath and in the rear of the 7 body designed to be operated by said engine, outwardly disposed horizontal sustaining planes at,the sides, adj acent to'the top of'the body, a pivoted wing beneath each sustaining plane, means for projecting the wings outwardly with respect to the sustaining planes, means retaining the wing beneath the sustaining planes, means for limiting the 4 swinging of the Wings in both directions, a horizontally disposed tiltable rudder to the rear of each sustaining plane, operating means for the rudders, horizontal surfaces at the sides and projecting beyond the rear of the body, a vertical uide rudder pivotally supported between the horizontal surfaces and operating means for the guide rudders;

In testimo'ny'whereof I affix my signature.

JOSEPH A. CAPLES. 

